Court blocks chunk of wall funds, citing remarks
MAY 25, 2019 12:42PM ET
By PETER WADE
The Sierra Club took Trump to court after he declared a national emergency and tried to reallocate $8.1 billion in defense funding to pay for the wall. But, the judge said, the president’s emergency powers only allow that kind of transfer of funds for “unforeseen military requirements” and blocked a $1 billion transfer of funds from the Pentagon’s counterdrug efforts ...
The judge dedicated pages of his ruling to quoting Trump talking about the need for a wall along the border long before Trump tried to shift the funds, which undermines Trump’s legal justification that hinges on the need for this funding being “unforeseen” .. Trump’s constant drumbeat of yelling about the need for a wall during his campaign and the first two years of his administration rendered the transfer unconstitutional.
“Defendants’ argument that the need for the requested border barrier construction funding was ‘unforeseen’ cannot logically be squared with the Administration’s multiple requests for funding for exactly that purpose dating back to at least early 2018,” Gilliam wrote.
Trump’s legal team also argued that the president can move funds without Congress when the legislative branch doesn’t give him as much as he requested, but Gilliam also shot that argument down ...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/court-blocks-border-funding-840295/
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